Lyme Bay conservation project celebrated in Brussels

A CONSERVATION project has put Lyme Bay on the map at a European award ceremony.

The Lyme Bay Fisheries and Conservation Reserve project, was the only UK finalist to get recognised at the EU – Natura 2000 awards held in Brussels.

Project officer Kate West and local Lyme Bay fisherman David Sales were ‘proud’ to attend the inaugural event on behalf of the local conservation work.

Not only did the Lyme Bay project scoop a spot in the final of the ‘reconciling interests and perceptions’ category, it was the only marine project to get recognised.

A total of 22 global projects were chosen from across Europe in a variety of categories and five winners were announced.

The Lyme Bay project, which sadly missed out on the award, was set up by the BLUE Marine Foundation in 2012 with the aim to reconcile the needs of the environment and local fishing industry, establishing a new blueprint for sustainable conservation.

Kate added: “Sadly, we did not win our category but we think we should still all be hugely proud of what the Lyme Bay Fisheries and Conservation Reserve project has achieved so far.

“I spoke to one of the judges. He gave us some great feedback and urged us to reapply next year and to go into a different category.

“Another panellist also said we were their favourite project. This is great to know and we can come back fighting next year.”

She added: “We hope that BLUE and the Lyme Bay Fisheries and Conservation Reserve gets the recognition it deserves for its outstanding contribution to nature conservation.”

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n A £150,000 cash boost was recently granted to the BLUE Marine Foundation, who who facilitate the Lyme Bay Fisheries and Conservation Reserve.

It came from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and will be made up of £50k installements across three years for the growth of the project.

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